Cloth roller drives for looms

ABSTRACT

A loom cloth roller drive mechanism includes a friction drive, transmitting drive from a driving shaft to said cloth roller, and weighing means whereby an increase in the weight of said cloth roller causes the load on said friction device to increase and therefore maintains a more even tension in the cloth as it is being wound on said cloth roller. The weight of said cloth roller supported on freely rotatable rollers causes the lever to pivot on a fixed point, said levertransmitting movement to the driven member of the clutch. so as to apply a load on said clutch.

United States Patent Inventor Cyril M. Atkinson Carniorth, England Appl. No. 862,398 Filed Sept. 30, 1969 Patented Nov. 16, 1971 Assignee Northrop Weaving Machinery Limited Dalsyfield, Blackburn, Lancashire, England Priority Oct. 12, 1968 Great Britain 48,465/68 CLOTH ROLLER DRIVES FOR LOOMS 6 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

u.s. Cl ..l 139/307, 139/310 Int. Cl D03d 49/20 Field of Search 139/304,

[56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 2,125,824 8/1938 Thompson 139/304 2,219,797 10/1940 Wattie 139/307 2,678,551 5/1954 Lambach... 139/307 X 3,381,722 5/1968 Pfarrwailer 139/310 FOREIGN PATENTS 2,832 0/1853 Great Britain 139/108 Primary Examiner.lames Kee Chi Attorney-Norris & Bateman ABSTRACT: A loom cloth roller drive mechanism includes a friction drive, transmitting drive from a driving shaft to said cloth roller, and weighing means whereby an increase in the weight of said cloth roller causes the load on said friction device to increase and therefore maintains a more even tension in the cloth as it is being wound on said cloth roller.

The weight of said cloth roller supported on freely rotatable rollers causes the lever to pivot on a fixed point, said levertransmitting movement to the driven member of the clutch. so

as to apply a load on said clutch.

PATENTEBmv 16 I971 3,620,262

sum 1 0F 2 INVENTOR:

CYRIL MILLWARD ATKINSON PATENTEDunv 16 mm 3,620,262

sum 2 OF 2 INVENTORZ CYRIL MILLWARD ATKINSON CLOTH ROLLER DRIVES FOR LOOMS This invention relates to the cloth roller drive or winding-on mechanism of a loom, and it is to be understood that the invention can be applied to any kind of weaving machine so that the term loom" is used herein in the broadest sense.

The object of the invention is to provide a cloth roller drive which is adapted to maintain a more even tension in the cloth as it is being wound on to the roller, than is the case with the conventional drive.

According to this invention the driving mechanism of a loom cloth roller includes a friction device and a loading mechanism which causes the load on the friction device to increase with increasing weight on the cloth roller.

Preferably, the cloth roller is supported on a weighing mechanism which forms part of the loading mechanism. It is also preferred to employ a friction clutch as the friction device. The cloth roller may be supported at each end of a pair of freely rotatable rollers carried by a pivoted lever one of which levers is in turn connected to the movable part of the clutch to provide the loading mechanism, the roller drive including a device to permit misalignment due to movement of the lever under the weight of the roller.

A cloth takeup mechanism for a loom, which incorporates the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a partlysectioned view of the takeup mechanism showing part of the loom end frame and the cloth takeup roller, and

FIG. 2 is an end-on view on the line ll-ll IN FIG. 1.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, a stud projects forwardly from the end frame 12, at the driving side of the loom, and a lever 14 is pivoted on this stud. The lever has a horizontal arm 16 directed inwardly (i.e. towards the opposite side of the loom) and an upstanding forked vertical arm 18.

The inner end of the horizontal arm 16 carries a bracket 20 extending forwardly and rearwardly, and two ball bearings 22 are fitted into this bracket at horizontally spaced positions, one in front of the other. A roller 24 is freely rotatable on each of these ball bearings 22.

At the opposite side of the loom (not shown), there is a similar arrangement excepting that at this side the pivoted lever has only the horizontal arm with the two rollers, the forked vertical arm being omitted.

The cloth roller 26 itself is a plain cylinder of wood or metal rather longer than the widest cloth to be handled. At each end, a square recess 28 is formed in the center of the roller 26. A short freely rotatable shaft carried by the end frame at the opposite side of the loom to the driving mechanism (not shown) has a square end which fits into the recess in that end of the roller, but the square end of the shaft is smaller than the recess, so that some misalignment is permitted.

At the driving side of the loom a longer driving shaft 30 extends through a bearing 32 in the end frame 12 and it also has a square end 34 fitting in the roller recess 28 with provision for some misalignment. The ends of the roller 26 also rest on the two pairs of freely rotatable rollers 24 carried by the pivoted lever 14.

Pins are mounted in the upper end of the forked arm 18 of the lever 14 at the driving side of the loom, and these engage in an annular groove 36 in a sleeve 38 surrounding the driving shaft 30. Thus the weight of the cloth roller 26 acting on the pair of rollers 24 at the driving end and tending to turn the pivoted lever 14, causes the sleeve 38 to be pulled inwardly. An annular pressure plate 40 is fixed to the outer end of the sleeve 38, and this plate 40 acts through a thrust bearing 42 on an axially movable driven member 44 of a friction clutch 46 which surrounds the sleeve 38. The driving member 47 of the clutch 46 is geared to the conventional cloth roller driving mechanism 48, and the driven member 44 has dog teeth 50 engaging similar teeth on a handwheel 52 fixed to the outer end of the driving shaft 30.

Thus drive is transmitted to the cloth roller 26 via the clutch 46, the driven member 44, the handwheel 52 and the driving shaft 30. The arrangement is such however that as the load on the pivoted lever 14 increases due to increasing weight of the cloth wound on the cloth roller 26, the pressure on the clutch 46 increases and hence the torque applied to the cloth roller 26 increases. This is desirable, because as the diameter of the cloth on the roller 26 increases, the torque must increase proportionately if the tension in the cloth is to remain constant.

In practice, it may not be possible to obtain an exactly constant cloth tension, but by suitable design of the clutch and lever mechanism it is possible to approximate towards the desirable uniform tension.

I claim:

1. in a loom, a rotatable roller upon which cloth is adapted to be wound, drive mechanism, variable drive transmitting means between said mechanism and said roller, and means continuously responsive to the combined weight of said roller and the cloth thereon for correspondingly varying the drive torque transmitted through said variable drive-transmitting means for controlling tension on the cloth being wound on said roller.

2. In the loom defined in claim 1, said variable drive transmitting means comprising a friction clutch.

3. In the loom defined in claim 2, a drive shaft connected to said roller, and a relatively rotatable and axially displaceable sleeve surrounding said shaft, said friction clutch comprising coaxial axially engaged elements surrounding said sleeve, and said means for varying the drive torque comprising pivoted lever means operatively connected between said sleeve and said roller so that an increase in weight of said roller and the cloth thereon will displace said sleeve to increase the frictional engagement between said clutch elements.

4. in the loom defined in claim 3, said lever means comprising a pivoted bell crank, one arm of which carries roller means supporting the weight of said cloth roller, and the other arm of which is connected to said sleeve.

5. In a loom, a driving mechanism for a cloth roller comprising a clutch operative between a driving shaft and said cloth roller, first and second levers pivoted about respective fixed points on said loom, first and second pairs of freely rotatable rollers on said respective first and second levers and connected respectively to said clutch and said cloth roller whereby increasing weight on said cloth roller causes the load on said clutch to increase, said shaft being so connected to said cloth roller as to permit relative movement between said cloth roller and said shaft thereby permitting some misalignment of said cloth roller and said shaft.

6. In the loom defined in claim 2, said means responsive to the weight of the roller and cloth thereon comprising movable mounting means for said roller and a motion transmitting lever system operatively connected between said mounting means and said clutch to controllably load said clutch in proportion to the weight of said roller and the cloth thereon. 

1. In a loom, a rotatable roller upon which cloth is adapted to be wound, drive mechanism, variable drive transmitting means between said mechanism and said roller, and means continuously responsive to the combined weight of said roller and the cloth thereon for correspondingly varying the drive torque transmitted through said variable drive-transmitting means for controlling tension on the cloth being wound on said roller.
 2. In the loom defined in claim 1, said variable drive transmitting means comprising a friction clutch.
 3. In the loom defined in claim 2, a drive shaft connected to said roller, and a relatively rotatable and axially displaceable sleeve surrounding said shaft, said friction clutch comprising coaxial axially engaged elements surrounding said sleeve, and said means for varying the drive torque comprising pivoted lever means operatively connected between said sleeve and said roller so that an increase in weight of said roller and the cloth thereon will displace said sleeve to increase the frictional engagement between said clutch elements.
 4. In the loom defined in claim 3, said lever means comprising a pivoted bell crank, one arm of which carries roller means supporting the weight of said cloth roller, and the other arm of which is connected to said sleeve.
 5. In a loom, a driving mechanism for a cloth roller comprising a clutch operative between a driving shaft and said cloth roller, first and second levers pivoted about respective fixed points on said loom, first and second pairs of freely rotatable rollers on said respective first and second levers and connected respectively to said clutch and said cloth roller whereby increasing weight on said cloth roller causes the load on said clutch to increase, said shaft being so connected to said cloth roller as to permit relative movement between said cloth roller and said shaft thereby permitting some misalignment of said cloth roller and said shaft.
 6. In the loom defined in claim 2, said means responsive to the weight of the roller anD cloth thereon comprising movable mounting means for said roller and a motion transmitting lever system operatively connected between said mounting means and said clutch to controllably load said clutch in proportion to the weight of said roller and the cloth thereon. 